paramilitary fashion - rant

geto.blast

snap on rims
Cammo comes in handy when you re trying to be sneaky.

And for those who party out of the beaten path: the surplus stuff (tarps, tents, pants etc) does tend to be way more durable then regular consumer gear.
 
well, the current popularity of military styles in mainstream culture might be linked with a increasing "militarization" of the political and social sphere - i agree with that...

...but when it comes to subcultural dress codes, the meanings of military apparel are of a much more complex nature. in general, subcultures that "borrow" certain clothing styles from other social contexts have the tendency to re-contextualise these items. hip hop for example has a longlasting tradition in this practice, incorporating sportswear (adidas), workwear (timberland boots - formerly associated with backwoods lumberjacks), sailing gear (does anyone remember the helly hansen craze of circa 98?) and even golf wear (ralph lauren, hilfiger) into the repertoire of its fashion. sometimes the reasons for adapting certain styles are obvious (i.e. breakdancers wearing sweat pants and sneakers for practical reasons), sometimes they are only decipherable with some background knowledge about certain cultural traditions (i.e. chinos being a integral part of the west coast latino culture, originally worn as a reference to the outfit of (mostly mexican) agricultural workers in the first half of the 20th century).

military styles in hip hop can mean different things: Public Enemy's black leather style was clearly a reference to the appearance of the Black Panther Party and therefore to a certain political militancy, whereas the Wu-Tang Clan or Mobb Deep are/were dressed in camouflage gear because they consider it to be the appropriate outfit for a "inner-city warzone". and arguably none of these groups wear army clothes in praise of one of the wars fought by the US military in recent years...

(i have to admit the fascination of hip hop artists with all things military has also taken very bizarre turns - like Master P's No Limit soldiers posing with golden artillery cannons or 50 Cent's infamous Gucci labelled bulletproof vest...)
 
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Grafta

Member
The military fashion thing for me is more about utility and function, good durable clothing that is unadorned with crap you don't need. I guess it links back to the modernist ideals, truth to materials etc. I find it funny that it has trickled into 'high' fashion, it really flips the script, altering military designs to be something to be 'seen' in rather than keeping you dry/warm/cool etc. Although you cannot deny the basic necessity of clothing I guess.
 

mms

sometimes
danny bwoy said:
(i have to admit the fascination of hip hop artists with all things military has also taken very bizarre turns - like Master P's No Limit soldiers posing with golden artillery cannons or 50 Cent's infamous Gucci labelled bulletproof vest...)

do you know about wesley snipes paramilitary firm the royal guard of amen ra? really taking things far as it's a supposed firn for protecting black artists ..
they are positioned next to the nuwaubian nation of moors in georgia .
very interesting group the nuwaubians with alot of connections within hip hop and a mad as a bag of ferrets but a bizarre almost sun ra esque cosmology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nuwaubian_Nation_of_Moors

the leader malachi z york was a disco performer who bacame the 'great teacher'
he's even got a special conspiracy theory about disco
'Disco was created by the devil to win the souls of the Nubians: “The evil one knows that he can control the music world as long as his agents are within the A & R (Artists and Repertoire, who are responsible for choosing who makes it in the music world) of the well known companies. He cannot evaluate Latin or Black music because he (the evil one) has no soul. He only duplicates it… He had to come up with something to win our souls through his means, and he did it with disco.”
 
you just can't go past the S1W(security of the 1st world) of PE for paramilitary chic and dance moves ...

...inspired by Professor Griff and the FOI (fruit of Islam) the militant soldier like arm of NOI(nation of islam)

Ideology doesn't really come much kookier than fard, elijah, farrakhan, motherplanes,yakub, 66 trillion yr old moonbases...

my favourite jacket is a russian special forces urban camo used primarily in georgia, I liked it so much i got my graf mate to paint my van like it

kobehoodie9ix.jpg
 

neupunk

Active member
Anyone else see the bombardment of press for this book a while back?


From what I've heard it's partially a shill for camo fashion but also has a lot of the history and military use documented.
 

version

Well-known member
The techwear thing seems to be the latest development of this trend, tactical gear, people dressing like private military contractors or characters from Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid.

0830b2966458d48918b57031752884cb.jpg
 

version

Well-known member
It's been interesting to see more and more protesters dressing like this, dressing like cops. That some people dress like this casually, perpetually dressed as though they're taking part in a protest, seems to fit pretty snugly with the current instability in the US.
 

mrfaucet

The Ideas Train
I don't think many people are dressing like that casually, it's more for Instagram - it's basically cosplay, really. Insofar as techwear is militaristic, and it definitely is to an extent, it's not to that much more of a degree than something like say Maharishi. Then if you look at something Arcteryx Veilance, it's not even really like that at all - it's more lowkey, even normie. Basically, that pic you posted is a niche of a niche, and I'm not really sure it says that much about anything, let alone techwear.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Did I imagine this or did both Nina and Stelfox make cameo appearances on Dissensus last year?
 
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